Dirty Little Secrets
by Buzz Killington
Summary: Three students have disappeared from the Georgetown University campus in three weeks. Will the BAU be able to solve the case before a fourth falls victim?


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from Criminal Minds. (Drats!)

Note: Most of this chapter is original characters, but I swear that the majority of the fic will be the team we know and presumably love (why else would we be reading CMFic?)

If it weren't for her roommate, Holly Harrington would never have even gone to the party. She would have far preferred to spend the night in their dorm room, reading, or maybe even just going to bed early. It wasn't that she didn't like parties; she just didn't like parties held at the Sigma Pi House. The reason for that particular dislike had just "accidentally" spilled an entire glass of beer all over her new blouse. She swore to God if she could find some way to spike Drake Addison's beer with Drain-o and get away with it, she'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Damn, Holly, I'm sorry!" the overgrown child apologized. Somehow Holly doubted the sincerity even before he bellowed above the noise of the live band and the screaming partygoers, "Wet T-Shirt Contest!" His announcement was followed by a lot of giggling and obviously drunk girls squealing and getting in line for the event.

Holly rolled her eyes and pulled away from Drake. What the hell were these girls thinking? They were in college now, for God's sake! Why was it that these girls, even ones she knew from her classes to be normal intelligent women, could let themselves be objectified like this?! Especially for a cretin like Drake?

Holly self-consciously folded her arms in front of her chest as she tried to make her way across the room to tell her roommate that she'd had enough and wanted to go home. From the looks of things, Trish was not going to be joining her any time soon, she judged as she spotted the girl and her boyfriend practically making out by the stairwell. She thought about just leaving, but since Trish had insisted on them using the "Buddy System" anytime they went to one of these parties, she knew she needed to at least let her friend know she was leaving. She wasn't dense; she knew that Trish didn't need Holly to watch out for her. Her boyfriend Scotty did that just fine on his own. Since Holly was currently flying solo, though, Trish had insisted that they "watch out for each other". The House had kind of a bad reputation for "things" happening.

"Hey, Trish?" Holly called out, not really wanting to interrupt the couple. "I think I'm going to head back to the dorms."

Trish Baker groaned slightly before she pulled away from her boyfriend. "Holly, we just got here. You've barely even talked to anyone. Come on, you promised you'd try to meet someone…what happened to you?" she asked, taking in Holly's drenched look. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of beer permeating from her friend.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Drake Addison."

Scott Brinlaw shook his head. "For an All-American he sure does fumble a lot of beer. At least two or three cups a party."

"Yeah, so, I really just think I want to go home. The guys here…" She let the comment trail off, not really wanting to insult Scotty, since he was a Sig. But really, the guys here just weren't her type. Most of them were jocks, and sure some of them were cool individually, but when they got together in a group, especially ones that included idiots like Drake, she really couldn't stand them.

"Come on, Hol, it's time you start going out. It's been two months since Josh. Just hang out a little while longer."

Holly shook her head. "I'm just not into it tonight. Besides I really don't want to walk around all wet and smelling like this."

"I have a sweatshirt you could borrow," she heard a familiar voice offer.

She smiled and turned around to see her Chem Lab partner standing just a few feet away. "Hey, Luke! I didn't know you were going to be here tonight!"

Luke Hart smiled shyly. "I live here," he reminded her, nodding down at the House T-Shirt he was sporting. She felt her face growing warm with embarrassment. Of course she knew he was a Sig, but…he was just so different from the other guys from the House that she knew that she'd forgotten. He was quiet and artistic and…well, quite frankly, he was beautiful. She had been crushing on him since the first day of classes when she'd been partnered up with him for lab. Thank Professor Sadler for being lazy and assigning partners alphabetically. "Come on up, I'll…" he stopped, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before smiling and shaking his head slightly. "Sorry, not thinking. That's like the first rule of Frat Parties, isn't it? Not going up to a Brother's room?"

Holly ducked her head, her embarrassment growing tenfold. Mostly because with Luke, she was more than willing to ignore that rule. "Here. Hang on to this for me," he handed her the cup he was holding. "I'll go grab one and bring it down for you."

"Thanks," she called after him as she watched him head up the stairs.

Trish raised an eyebrow as she noticed the way Holly was watching Luke's retreating form. Luke was cute, she supposed. She couldn't deny that he had a very cute face, but he wore his hair a bit too long, and he had what she always referred to as an artist's build; tall and lanky. She liked guys with a bit more muscle to them. But if Holly liked him, that was good enough for her. She grinned at Scott. "Be right back."

Trish grabbed Holly's arm and started pulling her toward the stairs. Holly nearly tripped as she was led along. She set Luke's cup down on the banister so she wouldn't spill it as her roommate dragged her quickly up the stairs. "Come on, his room is right next to Scott's."

"Trish!" Holly protested.

"Don't worry, I'm not pimping you out," Trish teased. "But you are going to need to change somewhere. And maybe you guys can talk…you know, where it's quiet."

"I thought you were supposed to be my 'Buddy' tonight," Holly reminded. "You know. Not let me do something stupid like go upstairs with one of the guys."

"Yeah, but you're sober, right? And Luke's a nice guy. Look, I'll even stay--"

Luke was startled as he emerged from his room and ran right into Holly and Trish. He handed the sweatshirt he'd retrieved for Holly to her. "Um…if you want to change, I can watch the door," he suggested.

She glanced at Trish, who nodded and nudged her toward the room.

"I'll wait out here with him," Trish assured. She leaned close and whispered, "Leave your shirt here. It'll give you a reason to stop back tomorrow!" Holly rolled her eyes, but made a mental note to do exactly that.

Holly relaxed as she went into Luke's room and closed the door. She flipped on the light and looked around, smiling as she took it all in. The walls were almost completely covered with pictures. Some photographs, possibly ones he had taken himself, she realized as she noticed the camera hanging on the hook by the door. Smattered among the photos were also lots of drawings that she figured he must have drawn himself. He was really talented, she appraised them with awe. Of course, she was probably a little biased, she allowed. She was surprised to find that he had a pretty large collection of books as well. And if the advanced textbooks he had out on his desk were any indication, he was pretty smart.

She quickly changed into the sweatshirt Luke had offered her, and then returned to the hall.

"So, ready to go back to the party?"

"Actually, I really think I still want to get back to the dorms," Holly admitted. While staying and talking with Luke would be nice in some ways, she wasn't in the mood for the crowd. She ignored the frown Trish was giving her and looked apologetically at Luke.

"I can walk you back, if you want," Luke offered, smiling shyly. "It's pretty late for you to walk alone."

Trish's initial disappointment for Holly evaporated and she flashed her roommate a grin.

"Sure, that'd be great," Holly accepted.

"Okay, just let me grab my keys and I'll meet you downstairs."

Holly laughed as Trish let out a little squeal when Luke disappeared back into his room. "He's just walking me home. That's all."

"So I shouldn't stay out tonight?" Trish teased.

Holly shook her head as she made her way back downstairs. She picked up Luke's cup to give it back to him. She supposed he'd probably just have to toss it out, since he couldn't really walk across campus with an open container. Then again, she realized, it looked like maybe it was just soda. Come to think of it, she was pretty thirsty herself. He probably wouldn't mind if she drank just a little bit of it. She glanced up the stairs before taking a few sips. Straight soda, she assessed, slightly surprised that there wasn't at least something mixed in.

She handed the soda back to Luke as he joined her at the bottom of the stairs. He gulped the rest of it down and tossed the empty cup in the trash as they made their way to the door.

"You don't really have to walk me home," Holly offered as he followed her out onto the front porch. She mentally kicked herself for not being more...she wasn't sure more what, except more like Trish. More flirtatious, maybe. More confident, definitely.

Luke shook his head as he fell into step beside her. "No, it's fine. It's a nice night for a walk. And really, it's not safe for you alone at night."

Holly nodded her acceptance. "Thanks for walking me, then. So those drawings in your room," she changed the subject somewhat awkwardly. "Are they yours?" Oh how stupid could she sound? Of course they were his, they were in his room. "I mean, did you draw them?"

Luke laughed lightly, his eyes lighting with amusement. "Yeah. I really thought about being an art major."

"Oh, you should!"

But Luke shook his head. "My parents say it's a waste of time and money. I mean…only a few people ever actually make enough money to live off with their art. Most end up waiting tables or doing stuff like that just to make ends meet. Besides, my dad really wants me to follow in his footsteps. Chemical Engineering," he added before she could ask.

"What about what you want?" she asked.

He smiled sadly. "I don't know. I think I'd be happy teaching or something."

"So why don't you?"

"Parents," they both answered at the same time, then looked at each other and laughed.

"I guess I just haven't really decided what I want to be yet," he admitted as they started to cut across the park. "Today I say teaching, next week I'll probably want to be a lawyer or something. Last week it was a psychiatrist. I just can't decide. Every time I start reading about another subject, I think 'that'd be cool, too'," he continued. As they walked, he started telling her about some of the other things he'd considered, clearly growing more relaxed and more animated. "The one thing I keep coming back to is the idea of being a sketch artist, you know like for the police or FBI or something. Just last week I went to this really cool lecture on campus…"

Holly felt slightly dizzy just listening to Luke describe the lecture given by some FBI profiler. While she wasn't that interested in the topic, she liked how everything seemed to fascinate him. She was kind of disappointed when they reached the dorms and he fell silent. She could see herself staying up and just listening to him babble about it all night long.

"So, um…" he looked down at his feet, suddenly seeming nervous again. "I don't suppose you'd want to um…meet for dinner or something tomorrow night? Maybe go to a movie?"

Holly nodded enthusiastically. "I'd love to," she replied, hoping she didn't sound as dorky as she suspected she did.

Luke let out a nervous laugh and looked back to her face again. "Great! I'll come by here say, 5 o'clock?" He stepped back and she laughed as he nearly tripped over his own feet. He managed to catch himself, but as he stepped back toward her, he nearly toppled again. She reached out and grabbed his arm, steadying him. Maybe he hadn't been drinking soda all night after all, she surmised.

"Okay." She looked up at him and grinned as she saw the somewhat dazed expression on his face. Yeah, she knew the feeling. "I should really get upstairs. So…I'll see you tomorrow." She hesitated for a moment, then impulsively she leaned closer and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks for walking me home."

"Anytime," he offered.

Holly made her way into the dorm building, pausing once inside to glance back. She felt a strange warmth flood through her as she looked out and noticed that Luke was still there, watching to make sure she got inside okay. "Goodnight!" she called out to him.

He waved and she turned to go upstairs to her room. She couldn't wait for Trish to get home so she could tell her all about it.

Luke sighed happily as he turned to walk back to the frat house.

He felt like he was walking on air. Hell, he felt downright giddy. A little light-headed even.

Really light headed, actually, he realized before he'd managed to get very far from the dorms.

And quite possibly a little sick.

He frowned and stopped for a moment, closing his eyes in hopes that the sudden dizziness would clear.

It didn't though. In fact, it was getting worse, fast.

Maybe he should call Scott to come get him. Except it really wasn't all that far to the House. He'd feel like a real idiot to make Scott drive six blocks to pick him up. He'd just get home, go up to his room, and lie down. Damn, he hoped he wasn't coming down with the flu or something. He'd been trying to work up the courage to ask Holly out for weeks, there was no way he was going to cancel their first date.

As he started the journey back across the park, though, he began to wonder in earnest if he was going to actually make it home. His vision was really starting to swim. Nothing was in focus. And something was quite wrong with his hearing. Everything was muffled.

He cursed as he realized that he had left his cell phone back on his desk. Maybe if he just sat down for a minute or two, he'd feel better.

And then he was lying in the grass. He hadn't meant to lie down, just sit, but somehow the ground had rushed up to meet him. The cool blades of grass felt good against his suddenly burning cheeks.

Something was terribly wrong.

His mouth went dry as he struggled unsuccessfully to get up. He could feel himself trembling from the strain as his suddenly weak arms refused to support him. What was happening?

He tried to open his mouth to call out for help, but froze as the world suddenly grew a little darker. It took only a few moments for him to realize that someone was standing over him. "Help me," he choked out as his vision was reduced to thousands of tiny black dots.

He felt hands gripping his wrists but was only dimly aware that he was being dragged. And then he was aware of nothing at all.

While Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid usually enjoyed a good mystery, this one had him completely stumped, and it made him feel strangely uneasy. His brow furrowed as he picked up the object and examined it again. He frowned as he turned it over in his hands, hoping he'd notice something he missed the first time he'd examined it. His eyebrows rose as he heard someone approaching. "What's this?" he asked, knowing without even looking up that it was his teammate Derek Morgan, returning to his desk.

Morgan set his files down on his desk and turned to look at the object Reid was holding up. "That, my friend, appears to be a purple teddy bear."

Reid scowled slightly, shooting Morgan a dirty look for stating the obvious. "Right, but…why is it on my desk?"

Morgan cocked his head to the side, a small smile growing into an amused grin as he watched Reid grapple with the mystery item. "Was there a note?" Reid shook his head. If there'd been a note, this possibly wouldn't be bothering him quite so much. "Well, then, if I had to guess, I'd say you have a secret admirer."

Reid gaped at him incredulously and Morgan fought the instinct to laugh. He was glad he did so as he watched the almost painful look of doubt spreading across Reid's chiseled features. "But why would someone…" Reid sputtered. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Don't sell yourself so short," Morgan chided him lightly. He often forgot just how insecure Reid was about his place in the world. The younger man obviously knew he was brilliant, but seemed to think that was the only thing he had to offer. 

Reid flushed slightly, and he looked anywhere but at Morgan, indicating the profiler's comment hit close to home. That wasn't what he meant, though. "I just mean: why wouldn't an admirer leave a note?" he wondered aloud. "Otherwise it may have just been left here by accident or…or intended for someone else?"

"Nah, it's for you," Morgan discounted that idea. At Reid's inquisitive look, Morgan grinned and explained. "It matches your scarf," he nodded toward where the young genius had hung the article in question.

Reid followed Morgan's eyes to his scarf. It was, indeed, the same color as the teddy bear, but the concept still didn't make sense to him. "If it were from an admirer, though, wouldn't there be some sort of…indication? What does this person admire? Why a teddy bear? Why no note?"

Morgan laughed outright. "You're thinking way too hard, loverboy. Just…enjoy it. I'm sure she'll reveal herself sooner or later."

Reid forced a small smile and nodded, feeling slightly foolish about his uneasiness, yet at the same time he remained quite apprehensive. He set the bear on his desk, determined not to obsess about it any longer. Morgan was right; sooner or later he'd discover the source. And until then, it really didn't seem like anything he should be worried about.

This was a secured area and it was left on his desk, so it had to be from someone there in the building, he figured a couple minutes later, contemplating despite his resolution to not dwell. Garcia maybe? She was often trying to get him to 'liven up' his desk. But surely she would have made a big production out of giving it to him, or at the very least would have made sure he knew it was from her. So…JJ perhaps? It just didn't seem likely. Not for absolutely no reason, anyway. And again, probably not without some sort of note explaining why she was giving it to him. Prentiss…well, she might be the type to leave anonymous gifts, he supposed. He really didn't know her well enough yet to determine that. But somehow he doubted that she'd be inclined to leave one for _him, _even if she were the sort. They weren't exactly friends. Besides, Garcia, Prentiss, and JJ all knew him well enough to know he'd obsess, and none of them had any reason to get revenge on him. So he supposed he had to rule all three of them out. So who?

He needed to think outside the box.

He raised an eyebrow and picked up the bear again. He'd already checked it over for indications it had been tampered with. There was no indication that the stitching had been ripped open for any reason. There weren't any hidden bugs or cameras. It didn't tick, he was relieved to note.

So it didn't seem like it was malicious in any way. And it did match his scarf, which most likely meant that whoever it was that left it saw him regularly, but maybe didn't know him all that well. They selected that color because they guessed it to be his favorite due to the scarf. They wouldn't know that that particular scarf had been a gift and while it held sentimental value to him, he wasn't all that fond of the color.

The unsub was presumably female. The choice of gift was somewhat immature, so she was probably youngish. Though she worked here, so that ruled out anyone too young…

"Reid!" Morgan's voice broke into his consciousness. He looked up, startled. He felt guilty as he realized that Morgan had probably been trying to get his attention for a little while. "Put your toy away and join us. We've got a new case."

Reid's face burned with embarrassment, but he quickly set the bear aside and headed for the Round Table Room, ignoring the soft chuckling of his coworker as he brushed past.

"A third young man has disappeared from Georgetown University campus in as many weeks," Gideon announced as the team all settled into their seats. He posted the first of three photographs on the board. "David Girard. He was not reported missing for almost two weeks because his roommate thought he went home, and his parents thought he was at school. The last time he was seen was Friday the 30th" And the second. "Michael Price. He was last seen Thursday the 6th when he and his girlfriend had a fight. He was not reported missing for a while because friends assumed he was taking some time away." And the third. "And finally Lucas Hart, missing since Friday night. He walked a friend home from a party and never returned. There has been no activity on bank accounts. None of them appear to have taken so much as a change of clothing with them. They've just disappeared without a trace."

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Please review—it does my heart (and my muse) good to know people are reading (and hopefully enjoying!) Constructive criticisms are welcomed, but flames will only be used for roasting leftover Easter Peeps. Woot!


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